


What's Your Name?

by PDXMoxie94



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 15:11:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6429472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PDXMoxie94/pseuds/PDXMoxie94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the Jesse McCartney song "What's Your Name" because I am trash and we're on hiatus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Your Name?

I wanna get to know you but I don’t know who you are…

“Gotta run Chat,” Ladybug said, flicking her wrist in a playful salute. She tossed her yo-yo out and it latched onto the rooftop of a nearby building. She smiled, and Chat’s heart fluttered. “Until next time!” Ladybug called out as her yo-yo pulled her away, sending her flying over the rooftops of Paris.   
“Until next time my lady,” Chat said to himself as the girl of his dreams disappeared.

I see you at the Starbucks as you’re walking out the door...

A familiar giggle floated across the crowded Parisian cafe as Adrien finished placing his order. He looked over just in time to see Marinette walking out of the cafe with Alya. Adrien smiled to himself, thoughts wistful as he watched his two classmates disappear from sight. Despite the fact that he could never get a full sentence out of Marinette, he considered her one of his true friends. Sure, he knew lots of people and his school was full of friendly people, but he knew that Marinette wasn’t after his friendship because he was rich. Marinette seemed genuine and kind, not that Adrien would know. She seemed to shut down around him, reverting to stuttered half-sentences and nervous giggling.   
She was pretty cute though.

I need an opportunity there’s something I wanna ask…

“What’s on your mind Chat? You’re awfully quiet tonight.”  
Chat glanced at Ladybug, taking a moment to soak in how the lights from the streetlamps below reflected in her bright blue eyes. The superduo was sitting on the rooftop of one of the many buildings shuffled together in the heart of Paris. Chat sat on the edge, feet dangling over the edge. All was quiet, akuma-wise, and they were enjoying the sight of the city at night mid-patrol.  
“It’s nothing my lady,” Chat replied. “Just stuff.”  
“What kind of stuff?”  
Chat shrugged.   
“Come on Chat,” Ladybug said, scooting closer and bumping him with her shoulder. “We’re partners, you can talk to me.”  
Chat sighed and his thoughts strayed from Ladybug--though he was hyper aware of her close proximity--back to Marinette. He had tried to talk to her again after class and she had, as usual, shut down. He was beginning to wonder if she actually didn’t like him at all and was just too nice to say so.  
“There’s this girl I know, and I thought we were friends…”  
“But?”  
“But I can never get her to talk to me,” Chat said with a sigh. “I’m beginning to wonder if she just doesn’t like me.”  
“Well does she ignore you?”  
“No, she just...shuts down? I dunno. She has a perfectly fine time talking to everyone else, even standing up to this mean girl in our class, but when it comes to me, nil. Nada.”  
“Well, maybe...Maybe she’s just nervous,” Ladybug said slowly. “Maybe she just doesn’t know how to talk to you. I know I get like that sometimes.”  
“You?” Chat asked incredulously, looking at his partner. “I can’t picture it.”  
“It’s true. Everyone gets nervous, even me,” Ladybug said. “Give this girl time, she’ll come around.”  
“Hm,” Chat said noncommitally. He kept his eyes on Ladybug as she surveyed the city from their perch.  
“We should get back at it,” Ladybug said. “You coming?” She asked, reaching for her yo-yo.  
“Right behind you.”

 

What’s your name, oh, I really wanna know, you got me going crazy

“What’s your name?” Chat asked. Ladybug looked at him, startled.  
“We’ve talked about this, Kitty. No identities,” Ladybug said. Chat shrugged.  
“Come on, my lady, I won’t tell,” he said, pressing the matter. Ladybug shook her head. Chat opened his mouth to say something else but as he did, both of their miraculouses beeped.   
“Stay, please,” Chat pleaded. “I won’t tell.”  
But Ladybug shook her head and took off, leaving him behind, as usual.

I wanna get to know you and get you knowing me...

“Maybe she’s just nervous,” Ladybug’s advice echoed in his mind as Adrien gathered his things up after class was over. He looked over his shoulder at Marinette, who was chatting animatedly with Alya as the two girls packed up their bags.   
“Hey Marinette,” Adrien said. Marinette looked down at him, freezing mid-sentence, bright blue eyes wide.  
“Y-yes Adrien?”  
“Do you want to maybe get lunch with me?” The words came out before he thought them all the way through. “We can go wherever. My treat?”  
Marinette stared at him, frozen, as Alya elbowed her in the back.  
“Uh, uh, yeah sure,” the half-Chinese girl managed. “I know a cafe across the park?”  
“Sounds great,” Adrien said, smiling gently at her. Maybe he could coax her into talking to him like a normal person. “Lead the way.”  
“See you after lunch,” Alya said, voice light and teasing as Adrien and Marinette walked out of the classroom. Outside, Parisians were enjoying the sunny spring weather, everyone out to lunch, eating on benches and filling outdoor tables at the restaurants that lined the streets.  
Adrien glanced down at Marinette, who had a death grip on her school bag. She wasn’t looking up at him or speaking, just staring straight ahead as her face heated into a bright shade of pink.  
“So,” Adrien started. “Have you designed anything new lately?”  
“Yeah, kind of. Mostly just sketches.”  
“That’s a start though, right? I’d love to see them sometime, if you’d show me. You’re really talented.”  
“Oh, thank you,” Marinette managed. “Um, yeah, I’ll show you when we get to the cafe?” She looked up at him and blinked, uncertainty evident in her eyes.  
Adrien smiled. “Sounds great.”  
Marinette hesitated before offering up a small smile and nodded. Silence fell between the two teens once more, but this time it was a gentle and cautious silence, as opposed to the heavy awkwardness when they left school.   
Lunch went by easily, full of awkward laughter and gentle smiles. Marinette walked him through her sketchbook, showing him both her finished and half-finished design ideas. By the end of lunch, Adrien was pleased to note that Marinette’s inability to talk around him was slowly but surely melting away into an easy friendship.  
He’d have to thank Ladybug for the advice the next time they were on patrol together.

I can’t get to know you if you don’t know I’m alive

“Chat?”  
“Yes my lady?”  
“What are you like as a civilian?”  
Chat glanced at his partner. Their midnight rendezvous were becoming more and more frequent as the weeks ticked by, lingering after patrols and tentatively talking with one another. Chat was crouched close enough to Ladybug to pick out the freckles that peeked out from underneath her mask.   
“I guess,” Chat started, turning his gaze back out to the sprawling city. “I’m quieter. Some might call me shy. I’ve never lived an ordinary life. At least, my childhood wasn’t ordinary.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“My mother...vanished one day. After that my father poured himself into his work, and the only way that I could get his attention was to be a part of it.”  
“So you are literally the family business?”  
“Part of it,” Chat said with a soft scoff. She wasn’t wrong at least.  
Silence fell between the two heroes and then Ladybug asked, “How are things going with that girl?”  
“Oh! We had lunch the other day. It’s getting better. She stopped stuttering,” Chat said. He smiled fondly at the mental image of Marinette’s sweet smile.  
“I’m glad,” Ladybug said. Though her words were friendly, her tone was dampened with what Chat could have sworn was disappointment. He looked back at his partner, who was smiling, though the smile didn’t quite reach her bright blue eyes.  
“Ladybug, are you alright?” Chat asked.  
She shrugged and looked away, eyes shining with more than just the Paris lights.  
“Yeah. I should get going though. Civilian me has school in the morning,” Ladybug said, rising to her feet.  
“Same here.”  
“Until next time Chat?”  
“Until then,” Chat replied. Just before Ladybug could unravel her yo-yo, he said, “Ladybug, please, what’s your name?”  
Ladybug looked at him and shook her head. “Silly kitten, haven’t you heard? Curiosity killed the cat.”  
“But satisfaction brought it back,” Chat insisted. Ladybug just smiled--that same sad echo of her real smile--and vanished into the night.

This could be something real I gotta let you know the way I feel…

“Why can’t you just let this go Chat? Why do you have to keep pushing?” Ladybug shouted. Adrien, on the brink of losing his mind, had messaged her to meet him. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the pair was alone on a rooftop.   
“Because I can’t get you out of my head!” Chat shouted back.  
“Try harder!”  
“I can’t! Don’t you get it? We’ve been partners for years, Ladybug, and if you haven’t figured out how I feel about you by now…”  
“How you feel about me?” Ladybug interrupted. “How do you feel about me?”  
“I love you,” Chat said. It was the first time in all those years of flirting, of joking and teasing and pretending, that he had ever said it out loud. “Ladybug, I’ve been in love with you since the day we met.”  
Ladybug looked at him with wide eyes. She seemed smaller, somehow, as though his words had reduced her from her larger-than-life superhero status.  
“You love me?” She repeated. Chat’s shoulders slumped forward as he sighed.  
“Yes,” he said. “Hadn’t you figured that out?”  
“I thought...all this time...I thought it was just part of the mask,” Ladybug said weakly.  
“I love you,” Chat repeated. “Whether my mask is on or off, I’ve only ever had eyes for you.”  
“But that girl…”  
“Someone I’ve known for two years but never really known until now.”  
“Oh.”  
Chat could hear his heartbeat in his ears and then asked, “Ladybug, do you love me?”  
The two partners stared at one another, Chat’s heart pounding against his ribs as he waited, holding his breath. He was about to take back his question when Ladybug slowly shook her head.  
“Chat, I’m so sorry. But...there’s someone else.”  
“Oh. I didn’t realize…”  
“It’s okay,” Ladybug smiled that cursed small sad smile, “he doesn’t either.”  
“Why don’t you tell him?”  
“I’m afraid...I’m afraid that he wouldn’t love me. Civilian me. I’m not Ladybug without the mask. I’m clumsy and sometimes flighty and quiet. I can only just now talk to him, and we’ve been in class together for years.”  
“He’d be a fool not to love you,” Chat said, offering his own sad smile. Of course she loved someone else. Of course her heart was reserved for another. Ladybug shrugged.  
“Does this foolish blind man have a name?” Chat asked.  
Ladybug hesitated.   
“You can tell me,” Chat said. “We’re always going to be partners. Nothing will change that.”  
“Adrien…” Ladybug started, a faint blush coloring her cheeks under her mask.  
Well that’s an unfortunate coincidence, Chat thought.  
“Agreste. Adrien Agreste.”  
As his own name sank in, hearing it from Ladybug’s lips, Chat swore that his heart stopped. Ladybug loved him.  
Ladybug loved him.   
Ladybug loved him?  
He knew her?  
“What?” Chat whispered.   
“I know, it’s silly, you’ve probably seen his photo around town before, he’s a model, but,” Ladybug stopped as Chat slumped forward, head bowed, shoulders shaking.  
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Ladybug said, but promptly stopped as Chat let out a sputtering laugh. She watched as her leather-clad partner folded in half and fell to his knees, laughing.  
“It’s not that funny,” Ladybug retorted. Chat looked up at her, as if to say something, but instead just laughed even harder. Tears pooled in his eyes and he grabbed at his stomach, shaking.   
“Are you okay?” Ladybug asked, annoyance turning to concern.  
“I...can’t talk...abs hurt...air...need...oh my god.”  
“Chat?”  
Chat took deep breaths and focused on slowing his racing heart, breathing through the laughter and calming himself down.   
“I’m okay but,” Chat said, rising to his feet. “But I think that there’s something you need to see.”  
Ladybug opened her mouth, but before she could ask what he meant, Chat melted away until Adrien was standing in front of her, looking at her with all the hope and anxiety in the world.  
“What,” Ladybug gasped.  
“Hi,” Adrien said, suddenly shy.  
“Hi,” Ladybug managed.   
“I’m Adrien,” Adrien said, offering Ladybug his hand. “It’s really nice to meet you. What’s your name?”  
Ladybug looked at his extended hand and then back up at the green eyes she had loved for so long. The cautious hope on his face began to fall the longer that she stood there, and his hand dropped back to his side. Ladybug bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, releasing her own transformation. When the cloud of red was gone, Adrien’s jaw dropped. Standing there, as cute as she had been the day he gave her his umbrella, was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.  
“My name is Marinette,” the half-Chinese girl said. Her voice was full of Ladybug-esque confidence. She stuck her hand out. “It’s nice to meet you.”  
Adrien reached out and took her hand. But rather than shake it, he did something he’d been dreaming of for years; he tugged her into him, wrapping one arm behind her, pressing her close to him. He took his other hand and cupped her jaw, tilting her head up to his and kissed her.


End file.
